British Hunger Games Clipped to Reduce “Sight of Blood Splashes”

Earlier this week, The Hunger Games found itself at the center of a censorship debate in the U.K. when the film’s distributor there, Lionsgate UK, asked that seven seconds be whittled from the soon-to-be blockbuster. According to the British Board of Film Classification, edits involved “digitally removing sight of blood splashes and sight of blood on wounds and weapons” so the film could receive a 12A rating (Britain’s PG-13 for 12-year-olds); it would otherwise be eligible for a “15.” In response, the media, which perhaps did not realize that the wildly anticipated film is based on a book that features children being impaled, poisoned, and stung to death by genetically altered wasps, is suddenly asking whether The Hunger Games is too violent.

Too violent, though, for the group of pre-teens who have allegedly faked bloody noses to get closer to star Liam Hemsworth during hysterical mall signings, or those enrolling in mother-daughter archery lessons in the off-chance that they too might have to hunt humans for survival after the apocalypse? Too violent for a book whose premise centers on two teenagers fighting in a televised battle until one is gruesomely killed?

Stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson addressed the matter last night—as impartially as actors whose future careers depend on the success of this film possibly could. “I do think the violence and brutality is justified, but I understand if everybody has a different standard for ratings,” Lawrence told Reuters at The Hunger Games’ European premiere, in London. “It’s the violence and the brutality [which] is the heart of the film, . . . it’s what gets the people angry to start an uprising and to start a revolution.”

Elsewhere on the red carpet, Josh Hutcherson, who plays Peeta, added: “I think kids are more mature than they have been over the years and I think . . . the whole idea was to make this movie and stay true to the book without alienating audiences. . . . So [director] Gary Ross did it in a way where he didn’t glorify it [the violence] at all. It’s not overly gruesome or brutal but it is part of the story in some way.”

The Hunger Games arrives in theaters on March 23, when movie-goers 13 and older will have the opportunity to judge the film’s violence level for themselves in the U.S., and those 12 and older will have the opportunity to figure out the seven seconds they’re missing in the U.K.